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Results: 1 - 15 of 28
View Alain Giguère Profile
NDP (QC)
Mr. Ferguson, in point 4.4, you talk about social determinants as one of the essential aspects that harm the health of first nations' members the most. You talk specifically about overcrowded housing, high rates of unemployment and problems with access to drinking water. The problems mean that first nations currently have a considerably lower life expectancy than the general Canadian population. Statistics Canada data indicate that these problems are very serious and that, unfortunately, with the very significant population growth of first nations, they are worsening rather than resolving themselves.
You told us about coordination among the different stakeholders. Since prevention and public health are important aspects of access to health care, I would like to know if, in terms of coordination, the department is making an effort to resolve problems that aggravate the health of first nations individuals, for example the lack of access to drinking water, overcrowded housing and poor follow-up for psychological care, which results in very high suicide rates.
Are efforts really being made to address these problems? I won't even get into problems with food, which are significant all over Canada.
View Dan Albas Profile
CPC (BC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I look forward to the testimony here.
I want to go back to something my colleague referred to earlier. It is interesting that he is talking about the importance of safe drinking water. I think we all understand that. We passed the Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act, which actually allows a first nation to choose whether it wants to have a system that is equivalent to a provincial one, to follow provincial laws, or to follow federal ones. It can do that, but that member's party voted against all of those changes. Sometimes it's a little shocking to me.
Mr. Perron, Mr. Allen also raised some concerns around the specific example that was given of a septic field that basically made a facility unusable. You said earlier, sir, that many of these facilities are owned, operated, and maintained by individual first nations, and I think you said we have to work within the longer scope to make sure your priorities match their priorities. Is that correct, sir?
View Dan Albas Profile
CPC (BC)
It's interesting. The members opposite in the House say that we are being paternalistic all the time by putting forward acts on safe drinking water etc., yet when we actually say we need to work with individual first nations to plan these things out, they get all upset that we aren't suddenly marching in and fixing septic fields and stuff that are not even federal assets but are owned by the first nations community. I don't want to isolate one particular example, because these things do happen on reserve, and septic fields go bad in many other areas, at least in my province where they're used in rural areas.
I also know that in many rural areas in my province, when I speak to mayors, including the mayors of such places as Keremeos, Merritt, and Logan Lake, they are always working with their provincial members of the legislative assembly to try to deal with doctor shortages, and I'm sure the same goes for nursing shortages. I can appreciate, specifically when I hear that some provinces have offered large raises and are attracting professionals from right across the country, that it makes operating in isolated areas very difficult for the provincial system, as some of the examples Mr. Perron gave show.
Could I just ask a quick question? Are we also trying to recruit from first nations to take these positions? Obviously they would have cultural understanding. They would be serving their communities. They would be making very good money. Is that something that continues to happen with recruitment?
View Hedy Fry Profile
Lib. (BC)
Thank you very much.
I want to thank the minister for coming today. I'm going to ask the minister a series of questions. I'm looking for short answers because I have quite a few questions I want to ask you.
With regard to innovation, I notice that the CIHR has been cut. It's a decrease of $4.5 million from the estimates to date in 2014-15 and knowing that the Naylor report on innovation is coming out, how would the CIHR deal with this if you don't increase the budget for CIHR to fund further research into innovation of the health care system?
The second piece is that we know that currently the agencies that are doing research are having to find a fairly large amount of money, $8.5 million, for these groups that don't have anywhere to raise the money to be able to do that little transition for three months each year for the last two years. This cut means they're going to have to.... Nobody knows what they're going to do because there's no way to be able to get that transition money from CIHR, because CIHR is going to have to be cutting certain things. That's about CIHR.
I also wondered why.... For instance, we looked at the fact that the budget for first nations and Inuit primary health care has been cut by a fairly large amount, $45 million, from 2014-15, and $59 million.... That's going to leave us with a real shortfall at a time when we see that the Auditor General has been talking about the quality of care and outcomes and the number of nurses and the ability to deliver care in the north and to Inuit and first nations populations.
We see the increase in infectious diseases, in obesity, in type 2 diabetes. We see rickets in the north, which I only learned about in medical school as a historical fact. Nobody has seen rickets here for, I don't know, almost a century, and we're seeing this in the north. The nutrition is no longer good. We're seeing overcrowding. We're watching tuberculosis increasing. We're watching this kind of falling happening, and I know the minister will say that this cut has come about because of the sunsetting of the water and waste water action plan.
Since February of this year we've had 139 drinking water advisories in first nations communities, so the water isn't safe and it's getting worse. In three months we've had 139 advisories. Why are we cutting such essential programs for a group of Canadians who have the worst health outcomes in the world as seen in the last UNICEF report that was done here?
There is one last piece I wanted to ask you about as well because I think that's all I'll fit, so I'm putting these three on the table. One of them has to do with the CFIA. It's receiving $107 million less than it did in 2013-14. We're also seeing that there is a plan in your planning and priorities for 2015-16 for 271 full-time employees to be eliminated for the meat and poultry subprogram of the food safety enhancement program.
We also know that we're hearing about E. coli in beef and we want to know how many meat inspectors were employed in 2013, 2014, and 2015. Were any positions left unfilled? Have the number and frequency of inspections been cut back at any plant, and if so, which plant and why? How many times a year are general sanitation inspections done at ready-to-eat food plants, like Maple Leaf Foods or raw food plants, such as beef and poultry, etc.
Why would there be a cut in something that is so essential and which has had really bad outcomes for the last three years?
The minister said in the House that she would get inspectors to inspect inspectors because of the bad results that have been happening. What is the quality and the level of the training of the inspectors there? Do they have any requirements for their training if they allow such huge problems to occur?
I'm going to leave those three questions on the table and I'm hoping to get every piece of them answered. That's why I was so specific.
Simon Kennedy
View Simon Kennedy Profile
Simon Kennedy
2015-05-07 16:43
Mr. Chair, sometimes I think the officials are as flummoxed as the honourable members are. On the issue that had been raised around the table with the minister on funding for first nations in particular, there are a number of programs in the department's budget where they do not have ongoing funding. They're programs that have periodic renewals, and that's often very useful because it's an opportunity to take stock to look at the underlying policy or spending and make adjustments.
In the case of the main estimates, what you see in the main estimates doesn't account for a number of those programs for which the money is actually there in the fiscal framework and they're going through a renewal process. Just in terms of the technical detail, under voted appropriations we have funding increases of $164.8 million, and those are for the following: $63.5 million for growth in first nations and Inuit health programs and services, $29.3 million in funding for implementation of the B.C. tripartite framework agreement on first nations health and for funds for the First Nations Health Authority, $22.3 million for the renewal of the first nations water and waste water action plan, and $23 million for the territorial health investment fund.
Now the main estimates also include decreases of $170.6 million, but those are for the programs that are actually being renewed, so those funds will actually show up in supplementary estimates. Between the $170 million sort of phantom decrease, which will be renewed in estimates, and the funding increases, there's a negative so it looks in the mains as if the funding is dropping. In fact the funding is increasing because we are going to have those renewals. You have to add both sets of programs together.
Generally speaking, we have a predictable steady increase in funding every year for the spending that takes in the first nations and Inuit health branch, and those funds are required because our expenses are rising. The funds provided in the fiscal framework actually go up every year. I can assure members—and I'd be happy to send a letter—that there is no decrease in funding in this area.
View Hedy Fry Profile
Lib. (BC)
Thank you.
I actually wanted to go back to the issue of the Inuit and the aboriginal funding.
I can go back into the estimates and show what was there in 2013-14 and then what was in your main estimates and if you spent more in the supplementary estimates. But the point is that I am very concerned that this whole safe water and waste water action plan that is sunsetting in 2016-17 isn't going to be gone. I want you to reassure me that it won't happen, that it is just on paper, and that when the time comes you will not sunset it. Given that there have been 139 boil-water advisories since February, which is only a tiny space of time, it is obvious that this program is needed.
I just wanted to know if I can have any reassurances from you that this is not going to be allowed to sunset.
Simon Kennedy
View Simon Kennedy Profile
Simon Kennedy
2015-05-07 17:13
Yes, I can certainly assure the member that the Health Canada funding as regards water and safe water...and in the specific case of Health Canada our role is around testing. There are other elements that belong to Aboriginal Affairs, and so on, but certainly that funding continues and is not lapsing.
If I could just for a moment come back on Vanessa's Law, there is an injunction power under the legislation that would allow us to step in very quickly if there was an issue around advertising. I just wanted to close the loop on that.
View Christian Paradis Profile
CPC (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and colleagues. It's a pleasure to be here today.
I'm proud of the development work undertaken by our department, and I'd like to tell you about some elements of that effort that are particularly important to me.
With no surprise, you all know that saving the lives of mothers and children remains Canada's top international development priority. In 2010, Prime Minister Harper drew the world's attention to the plight of women and children. Our contribution to the Muskoka initiative has led to some impressive results on maternal, newborn, and child health. For example, with Canada's support, the micronutrient initiative programs have ensured that an average of more than 180 million children receive two doses of vitamin A each year, a key nutritional element important for healthy development, immunity, and eyesight. As well, Canada's support for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, contributed to the immunization of an additional 145 million children between 2010 and 2013, preventing two million deaths.
At the Francophonie summit, the Prime Minister announced an enormously important contribution that will help with the immunization of an additional 300 million children, with the aim of saving up to six million lives.
By working with our partners, Canada has increased access to water and sanitation for more than 860,000 people, 80% of whom are women and children. We should all be proud of the difference we have made in the lives of the most vulnerable around the world.
It is also very clear to everyone that official development assistance, or ODA, is not enough to reach our objectives. We are seeing new opportunities for the public and private sectors to work together to mobilize investment, reduce poverty and promote prosperity.
Emerging economies are increasingly seeking private investment to create jobs, spur sustainable growth and generate revenue to pay for public services. Donors like our department can play a critical role in reducing barriers to private investments. But we do not possess all of the required resources or expertise. Canada has already seen great success with this model, and has helped mobilize more private investment in emerging and developing economies.
Canada is also looking to expand our own development finance toolkit to promote more of these opportunities in the future. For example, we are playing a leadership role in the Redesigning Development Finance Initiative of the World Economic Forum and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, to combine the skills, knowledge and resources of public and private investors to expand opportunities in emerging and frontier markets.
Canada is also exploring the merits of new mechanisms to provide financial solutions for viable business ventures with a high-development impact.
Going forward, development will increasingly be about leveraging new resources to solve fundamental challenges facing people living in poverty. Another way that Canada can address those challenges is to leverage our roles in key international institutions.
For me, La Francophonie has been a very important venue to promote development goals, as well as Canadian foreign policy priorities. Canada is proud of its recent accomplishments within La Francophonie. Canada's role and achievement in 2014 made that year particularly significant.
At the Dakar summit in Senegal last November, Canada's former Governor General Michaëlle Jean was named Secretary General of La Francophonie. We are confident that Ms. Jean will bring La Francophonie into the 21st century and advance its values and missions to build a more just, prosperous and peaceful world.
Moreover, Canada left its mark on the documents adopted at the Dakar summit, from the Dakar declaration, with its references to combatting the Ebola virus and child, early and forced marriage; to the Resolution on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health; and the economic strategy—all of which are key to the future of La Francophonie.
Canada plans to continue exercising its leadership on a number of major issues and playing an active role in the development of La Francophonie. Canadians can be proud of this kind of leadership in driving positive change.
Canada and Canadians can be proud of how Canada has answered the call to help those in need. In 2013-14 Canada responded with its largest contribution ever to humanitarian assistance, providing its partners with $857 million to respond to the unprecedented amount of humanitarian need. This represents a 62% increase over the previous year and included funding for such troubled areas as Iraq, Syria, the Philippines, Ukraine, the Central African Republic, and South Sudan. Of course, committee members will also recall Canada's leadership and our timely and effective response to the Ebola crisis affecting portions of West Africa.
Mr. Chair, I feel it's important, given the timing of this appearance, to reassure committee members that with respect to Canada's mission to combat the threat of ISIL, my department is indeed committed to continuing efforts to assist those directly affected. Canada has been at the forefront of the international response to the crisis in Iraq, as well as in Syria and the surrounding area, since the beginning of each crisis. We will remain at the forefront.
Those are only a few elements of the work undertaken by our department on behalf of Canadians.
Thank you very much.
View Bernard Valcourt Profile
CPC (NB)
Mr. Chair, thank you for inviting me to outline the main estimates for fiscal year 2014-2015 of my department, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, and to discuss the 2014-2015 supplementary estimates (A).
As the committee members know, the main estimates support the government's request for Parliament's approval of expenditures that were already planned in Canada's Economic Action Plan 2013 or in previous decisions.
Through these main and supplementary estimates, the department accesses the funds required to continue delivering on our government's commitment to put in place the conditions for stronger, healthier and more self-sufficient first nations communities.
In addition to ongoing spending on the department's various programs and policy areas, this year's main estimates include a significant $473 million increase for the continued implementation of Justice at Last: Specific Claims Action Plan, of which $450 million is earmarked to pay out negotiated settlement agreements and awards of the Specific Claims Tribunal, while $23 million is set aside to support the assessment and negotiation of specific claims.
This is a direct result of the action that our government has taken to achieve fair and timely resolution for first nations specific claims. As you probably all know, it was our government that announced the Justice at Last initiative in 2007, in order to improve and speed up the claims resolution process for the benefit of all Canadians.
We have seen real progress. We have reduced the backlog of claims under assessments and settled over 100 specific claims through out-of-court, negotiated settlements totalling over $2 billion.
I'm pleased also to note, Mr. Chairman and members, that the supplementary estimates (A) renewed funding for the comprehensive claim and self-government negotiations across Canada which had sunsetted in the last fiscal year. At the same time, in addition to making progress on claims settlements, we continue to promote reconciliation between aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians.
In that same vein, I'm happy to report that the operating period of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has been extended to June 30, 2015. I was speaking with Mr. Justice Sinclair this morning. This will give the commission the necessary time to fulfill its mandate, including completing its final report, holding a final event, receiving the rest of the documents held at Library and Archives Canada, helping set up the permanent national research centre in Winnipeg, and winding down its operations. We have allocated $3.5 million in transfers through supplementary estimates (A) to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission so it can complete this work.
This decision to extend the operating period by a year reinforces our government's commitment to achieve a fair and lasting resolution to the legacy of Indian residential schools, which lies at the heart of reconciliation and the renewal of the relationship between aboriginal people and all Canadians.
Mr. Chair, these estimates also reinforce our government's commitment to improve the quality of life of aboriginal people and northerners.
For example, through supplementary estimate (A), we are accessing $136.3 million of the funding for the first year of the renewal of the first nations water and waste-water action plan. This funding will provide for the continuation of our strategy to protect the health and safety of first nation residents and ensure that they have the same access to clean drinking water as all other Canadians.
Since 2006 our government has spent roughly $3 billion to help communities manage their water and waste water infrastructure and in related public health activities. New investments, like the ones I just outlined, build on the concrete action our government has already taken to improve water and waste-water infrastructure.
In addition to the funding in the supplementary estimates (A) for the first nations water and waste-water action plan, the supplementary estimates also earmark $127.7 million for the assessment, management, and remediation of federal contaminated sites, again reflecting our government's commitment to health and safety and the protection of the environment as top priorities.
The last major item in supplementary estimates (A) is funding for the first nations land management regime, which you all know gives first nations more control over their own land and resources, and supports first nations through the developmental and operational phases of the first nations land management regime. To cover the incremental costs associated with an increase of entrants in the first nations land management regime, $6 million has been allocated for the expansion of the regime. We have seen that first nations operating under the land management regime have witnessed a dramatic increase in new business. We see this all across the country. This funding will help these first nations further down the path away from the Indian Act and toward a more prosperous and self-sufficient future.
Last, the supplementary estimates earmark $4.6 million of new funding for aboriginal groups who are parties to the final devolution agreement, as per the Northwest Territories Lands and Resources Devolution Agreement. We signed this historic agreement in June 2013. It gives northerners greater control over their land and resources, all the while unlocking the economic potential of the region by modernizing the existing regulatory regime. This will strengthen environmental stewardship and protection and ensure that the Northwest Territories remains an attractive place to live, work, and invest.
The funding requested through these main estimates and supplementary estimates (A) demonstrates that we are taking concrete steps to address the needs of aboriginal people and northerners, and making real progress in that area. These estimates, which themselves are what we request from the Canadian taxpayer, enable us to make significant progress.
Mr. Chair, I am proud of our government's record on improving the lives of first nations, and indeed all aboriginal people in Canada, and I believe these estimates go a long way to enable us to make this progress.
I will now do my best to answer any questions that members of the committee may have pertaining to these main estimates or supplementary estimates (A).
Thank you.
View Mark Strahl Profile
CPC (BC)
Very quickly, Minister, I see that $136 million is allocated to the first nations water and waste-water action plan. Perhaps you could give us an update on what that funding in the supplementary estimates (A) will be used for.
View Bernard Valcourt Profile
CPC (NB)
Since 2006 the total federal investment in first nations water and waste-water infrastructure has been approximately $3 billion. These funds have been targeted and committed to ensure that first nations can have on-reserve water systems and waste-water systems that are comparable to what Canadians in all other municipalities have and much too often take for granted.
As I said, we have made a serious investment, and through these estimates, as you see, we are going to continue investing to support these major capital water and waste-water projects throughout the nation.
To date, there have been 198 major capital projects and waste-water projects in 173 first nation communities where this has been accomplished. These funds will allow us to continue and, of course, to build on the Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act, which received royal assent on November 1, 2013.
For the first time, with the full participation of the residents of first nations communities and the provinces, enforceable standards to protect the health and safety of first nation residents will be developed. These funds will be used to pursue that objective.
View Judy A. Sgro Profile
Lib. (ON)
Mr. Valcourt, thank you very much for being here today.
I want to ask you about first nations water, an issue which I believe you care about, but I know that all Canadians have great concerns about the whole infrastructure in and around water.
Your 2011 national engineering assessment found the need for an immediate investment—and this was back in 2011—of $1.2 billion to meet existing protocols at that time just for operating, capital costs of $4.7 billion over 10 years, plus a projected operating and maintenance budget of $419 million annually over a 10-year period of time. Again, this was your own report in 2011.
Instead of the additional resources required, what first nations actually got was new water legislation imposed on them that downloads liabilities and responsibilities with very few new resources.
Does the department have a plan and a timetable for making the required investments that were outlined in your 2011 water engineering assessment?
View Bernard Valcourt Profile
CPC (NB)
Well, as will be obvious to any objective observer, since 2006 close to $3 billion has been invested into this undertaking.
As we say,
Paris wasn't built in a day.
We are on a solid progressing plan where you see every year a substantial investment at a time when you know that the government is committed to balancing its budget. Notwithstanding the fact that we will have managed in this mandate to completely eliminate the deficit by 2014-15, we will still have increased and keep increasing our investments into water and waste water on reserves to ensure that the health and safety of those first nations' residents is protected.
I'm sure that this is not a problem that was born the day we were elected. Obviously, if there was that level of investment required, it must have been because before we came to government some other government also failed to invest in water and waste water.
Michael Wernick
View Michael Wernick Profile
Michael Wernick
2014-05-29 16:02
No. We get our money in budgets usually two years at a time or three years at a time. We try to have criteria for setting priorities. We have ranked lists. We assess them nationally and we do what we can with the money we get in each budget. We post the progress at least every year, sometimes more frequently.
I would say that the estimate, which is provided by consultants, is a kind of maximum worst-case costing if we use very conventional technologies available at the time, piped water systems and so on. Of course, what we're trying to do at every opportunity is get more results out of the available dollars.
The technology in water and waste water is evolving very quickly, and we're trying to encourage first nations to use it.
View Earl Dreeshen Profile
CPC (AB)
View Earl Dreeshen Profile
2014-05-29 16:08
You mentioned in your address, and going back to the water discussion, $136 million in supplementary estimates (A) this year for water and waste-water infrastructure on reserve. Of course, you mentioned coming in with Bill S-8, the Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act. I understand this legislation is helping protect our government's significant investments in first nations water and waste-water systems. I'm wondering if you could elaborate, for some of us who are relatively new on this committee, on some of the benefits that have come about by the adoption of this piece of legislation.
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